Usable Words

Businesses that deal with other businesses don’t sell products or services any more. They sell “solutions”. Technical Solutions, Mobility Solutions, Product Development Solutions, Volunteer Solutions…with this many solutions out there, we must have a lot of problems!

That, of course, is the point. Buzzwords become popular for a reason, and in the case of “solutions” the reason is basically a sound one. By offering a solution, we send the message that our starting point is the customer’s problem and what we can do about it, rather than our own products and our desire to sell them. The idea of a “solution” also enables us to bundle a whole lot of products and services together: for example, rather than a web development business saying “we do site design, coding, content creation, SEO, etc. etc.” they can just say “we deliver complete web solutions”. (“Solutions” are always “delivered”). I get it.

That, of course, is the point. Buzzwords become popular for a reason, and in the case of “solutions” the reason is basically a sound one. By offering a solution, we send the message that our starting point is the customer’s problem and what we can do about it, rather than our own products and our desire to sell them. The idea of a “solution” also enables us to bundle a whole lot of products and services together: for example, rather than a web development business saying “we do site design, coding, content creation, SEO, etc. etc.” they can just say “we deliver complete web solutions”. (“Solutions” are always “delivered”). I get it.

The problem is, as soon as a word like this gets popular, people will start using it almost without thinking, just because they’ve seen other people use it and they think it sounds clever or businesslike or something. They’ll start tacking it onto the end of a product name for no apparent reason. So you don’t sell meat any longer, you sell meat solutions!

More seriously, people will use the term in a way that obfuscates, rather than clarifies, what it is they actually do. What do you think a cross-cultural solution is? I’d be surprised if your first thought had anything to do with running volunteer abroad programs, which is what this organisation does.

Even worse, sometimes you can read an entire landing page about someone’s “integrated business solutions” or “total connectivity solutions” and still end up with little idea of what they actually do. (Do these people install cables or run management seminars?) “Solutions” may have a solid, getting-things-done ring to it but it’s still an abstraction; to mean anything it has to be given a concrete context.

I don’t want to stop people using the word altogether (although I’d have no problem with a brief moratorium). But I’d like to suggest some ground rules:

1. Only use “solution” about something that actually is a solution: that is, something tailored to a customer’s specific needs. A custom-built database system is a solution (if it works). An off-the-shelf software package isn’t.
2. It’s business-to-business only, please. If you detail directly with consumers, then even if you satisfy the first rule, please don’t call what you do a “solution”. So tailors, no “bespoke gentlemen’s suiting solutions” please; pool companies, no “inground swimming solutions”; and entertainment equipment retailers, no “home theatre solutions” (that’s one you see a lot). I’m sorry, but it just sounds pretentious and silly.
3. Don’t use the word “solution” without giving at least equal prominence to at least one concrete product or service that you offer, no more than a sentence apart.
4. Avoid using it in business names and domain names. (Too late for some, I know, including one company I used to work for!)
5. Be very reluctant to use it in dominant page elements like titles, meta descriptions, headings and subheadings, and headlines. Apart from anything else, how often do you think people type “solutions” into a search box?
6. Above all, make sure that anyone giving your page a cursory scan won’t be left guessing about what you do!

Any other suggestions?